Salsa Variations

I haven't been able to keep up with the post-a-day goal of Vegan MoFo, but I'm enjoying those of you who are staying on pace. On the couple of nights this week when I've had time to goof around in the kitchen, I was busy cleaning, chopping, roasting, boiling, and canning tomatoes. Since we had our first hard frost this week, I picked the last of my tomatoes, including a few dozen green ones. They're all canned or eaten now, so this is the last of my tomato posts, I promise.

I made three batches of salsa, turning out 25 or so canned pints and half-pints. Two recipes featured green tomatoes, which were oven roasted. I blended a can of chipotle chilies and a cup of crushed pineapple into one green salsa. The second green variation was pretty straightforward, with onions, cilantro, garlic, chilis, and lots of lime juice. I used the last of my ripe red tomatoes in a salsa with roasted garlic and a couple of cups of diced mango, along with more onions, chilis, and cilantro. I wonn't post any exact recipes, since I tinkered with each pot of salsa until I had something I liked. This was an opportunity to use a lot of my chilis, but I still have a box of them.

I might try some chili-ginger or chili-garlic paste to can or freeze, or just freeze them as they are. Either way, I won't need to buy chilis for a long time. Finally, a response to a question from Ali about any tricks for growing tomatoes up here. I grew my plants in a freshly tilled garden plot, so I suppose the soil was pretty rich and full of nutrients. All I added was some peat moss - one bale in a plot about 10' by 5' - in the spring, since Red River valley soil tends to be pretty dense - I tried to make it looser and easier to work. After that, all I did was pull weeds and water late at night or early in the morning in the couple of dry stretches this summer. The plants were in full sunlight after mid-morning each day. I didn't use any other fertilizer or pesticides, though there are lots of organic and homemade techniques out there.